


How to Make a Future

by MirandaBeth



Category: Press Gang
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-03
Updated: 2012-03-03
Packaged: 2017-11-01 02:06:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/350772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MirandaBeth/pseuds/MirandaBeth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The night before a particularly nerve-wracking day for Kenny, help comes from an unexpected source.  (Season 1)</p>
            </blockquote>





	How to Make a Future

**Author's Note:**

> Set a few weeks after "How to Make a Killing".

The phone ringing this late at night in the Phillips household, especially after a day like this, could mean only one person.

"Look, Lynda," Kenny said, anticipation of the usual lecture from his dad about late-night phone calls – not to mention the anxiety that prickled across his skin every time he thought about tomorrow – making him snappier than he'd intended. "I think you said everything you needed to, okay? Unless you're phoning to apologise, I don't want to hear it."

Okay, he knew better than to say something like that to Lynda. It was today all over again, with him constantly saying just the wrong thing.

Luckily, it wasn’t Lynda.

"Kenny, I’ve told Lynda you’ll be coming down with a deadly virus tomorrow."

"Sarah?"

"I don’t think she believed me," Sarah continued. "But she doesn’t expect you in. She might be kind of angry afterwards though, so you better make it worth it."

"Sarah, why-"

"I heard you and Lynda arguing, Kenny. I know you wanted to get the day off tomorrow. And I know what day it is."

Kenny closed his eyes. "I didn’t think anyone would remember."

"Tomorrow's the twelfth," said Sarah. "Maybe Lynda forgot what it means, but I didn't."

" _Maybe_ Lynda forgot," he said darkly. "Or maybe she's just being Lynda."

"You didn't exactly try very hard, Kenny," Sarah said, her voice rising. "You certainly didn't tell her why you wanted the day off. You just started one of those stupid rows you two get into, and then sulked a lot when you didn't get your way."

Kenny found he couldn't argue with that.

"I guess I'm kind of nervous," he said, sitting down on the hall floor, a sudden need to confess overwhelming him. "She might not even want me there. Jenny, I mean."

"Twelfth of the month," Sarah reminded him. "You're the one who's been there since everything changed. You're the one who _made_ it change. You need to be there tomorrow, Kenny, or at least you need to give her the option of having you there."

"It was two years, Sarah," he said. "Two years of drawing a body on a pavement, and now suddenly she doesn't need to do it any more. How can I possibly know what that feels like? I don't even know if tomorrow's going to be good or bad."

"Well it was what she wanted, wasn't it? Exposing the people who caused her brother's death?"

"Yeah, but…" Kenny paused, struggling to put his half-formed thoughts into words. "It wasn't just that. Drawing his body, it wasn't just a protest."

"It was her way of remembering him," said Sarah softly.

"And it gave her, I dunno, a purpose." He rested his head against the wall behind him. "But tomorrow it's all going to be different. She hasn't said much, but I know she's been thinking about it. I don't know what she's going to do."

"S'pose she probably doesn't know, either."

"And I really don't know what use I can be," he said, hearing the desperation in his own voice.

"Well, now you don't have to be at the newsroom," Sarah said briskly, "so you can be whatever use she wants you to be. Even if it's just standing still while she hits you, or something."

"More likely than you’d think," said Kenny wryly, thinking of his last date with a wince.

"You'll find something," she said, more gently. "She has a chance now, Kenny. Of remembering him for something else, something other than how he died. You can help her see that, if she needs you to."

Somehow, listening to Sarah say it, he found he could believe it.

"Thanks," he said. "You were right, I do need to be there. Thanks for covering for me with Lynda."

"Yeah." Sarah was silent for a moment. "You owe me, okay?"

It felt surprisingly good to laugh. "Next time you need an excuse, I’ve got your back."


End file.
